


Sum of its Parts

by AruWolf (orphan_account)



Category: Dark Matter (TV)
Genre: Five Centric, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-08-14 21:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8030323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/AruWolf
Summary: Loving life isn’t a prerequisite for a good life, and Five’s learned that lesson more times than she can count.





	1. Lesson 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by blockedthewriter, and Adeline

No one’s ever tried to pass the Raza off as a home but somehow that’s what it’s become to the little engineer. With a little tinkering, maybe Five can make their ship into more of a home for the rest of the crew as well.

“Ow!” 

Okay, maybe diverting power from the core without a dampener wasn’t the smartest decision. Biting her lip in frustration, Five searched through her tools, her hand red from the burn and her back cold against the floor. She wasn’t going to let a little smoke discourage her.

“Five,” the Android's voice broke Five out of her concentration. 

“Ah…!” Five winced as she hit her head against the panel. _Damn._

“My intention was not to surprise you.”

Rubbing her forehead Five pushed herself from the floor. _Today is not my day._ With a burnt hand and a sore head she reassured the Android that everything was fine, her own insecurities raw from her engineering mishap. 

“Your presence is requested on the bridge by Two.” 

The Android's posture was impeccable, and the only thing that gave away her concern for the girl was the way her eyes softened.

Five frowned, gathered her tool kit, and wondered why Two didn’t just try and buzz her through the intercom before following the Android towards the bridge. 

Noticing her confusion the Android further explained, “The ship detected a distress beacon in a secluded part of space. Two requested we drop out of FTL to investigate.” 

“Why?”

“Three suggested there might be _equipment_ for us to use. Six agreed, although quite reluctantly.”

“Ha, that definitely sounds like something Three would go after. But then why does Two need my help?” 

It was out of the ordinary that Two hadn’t paged her. Five’s fingers went to her ear only to come in contact with nothing. _What is with my luck today?_

“When we followed the coordinates to the location of the distress beacon there was a problem locating the source of the transmission.”

Five frowned again before picking up speed because that definitely didn’t make any sense. Hopefully once she was behind a console again she’d be able to get some answers. 

Once on the bridge Two followed her to the console. “Where’s your com, Five?”

“It must have fallen out when I was working on the engines.” Five’s fingers worked across the panel, eager to show off her usefulness in front of Two. 

“That sounds like an excuse I would use, kiddo.” Three lounged by the front of the deck, probably rechecking his bullet count.

“Why were you working--nevermind.” Two turned to the map and folded her arms. “We need your help trying to decode the distress signal that’s being broadcast from nowhere,” Two said, eyes scanning the empty space.

“Yeah, the Android told me.” 

“Did she also tell you how we found you without your com?” Three said, stuffing his side arm into it's holster. 

“I did not think providing such information was necessary.”

“You’re only saying that because it was my idea to check the core room,” Three said as if he should get a gold star for participation. 

“Are you implying that I purposely left out information to make you seem less competent?” 

“Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.” 

“Now now kids, I love all my children equally,” Five said without taking her eyes off the console. 

Sometimes she wondered if she was the most mature in their crew. _Excluding Four, of course. _But the thought was fleeting as her fingers sped up, her eyes frantically reading line after line of code.__

“That’s weird…”

“What?” Two rushed to the girl’s side as her irritation gave way to concern. 

_She must have had the Android working on this before coming to get me._ Which meant it would be near impossible to crack.

Five hunched forward, her eyes scanning the screen looking for an explanation. “The beacon is encrypted?”

“Hate to break it to you kiddo but that doesn’t sound weird given our history.”

“No, not normally,” Five said, heading to the front of the bridge. “But this is strange.” She hoped she’d get a different result from a different console, but no such luck. “Well, stranger at least.” Five winced from her injury as she punched in more data. “It’s as if someone put a triple lock on this message.”

“Message? What happened to it being a distress signal?” Three asked, removing his feet from one of the consoles, intrigued.

“That’s what makes it weird.” Five responded, her brows furrowed and lips bitten to all hell. By the end of this she’d be able to share that gold star with Three.

“Who would keep an encrypted message in the middle of space?” Two wondered.

“I believe the better question is who would encrypt a message and then broadcast a distress signal to this location,” the Android interjected, her gaze fixed on the crew before her.

“No ship, no loot, which means we don’t need to be here,” Three insisted. 

“I think I'm starting to get it,” Five said excitedly. She was so close.

“I don’t like the feel of this. Something is off. Five hold off on that-”

The ship stalled, lurched forward, and went out like a light before Two could finish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> send prompts to: cardservices.tumblr


	2. Step 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by blockedthewriter, and Adeline

Five watched the emergency lights fade in and out. In a daze, everything seemed soft and fuzzy to her until the cold floor reminded her of the wires she’d left exposed in the engine room. _Crap._ The newly formed bump on her head throbbed rhythmically with the dull roar of the ship. _Right, we stopped moving._

“Is everyone okay?” Two sounded like she was still getting off the floor herself.

“Yeah…I think so.” 

It was hard to tell whether Five’s hand hurt from the impact or the burn, but at least she wasn’t too banged up.

Three groaned. “What the hell happened?”

“Primary power to the engines shut down and halted our momentum.,” Android informed them from above. Her gaze flickered past Five, concerned, before catching Three’s deadpan expression. 

“Yeah, I felt that much,” he said, rolling his eyes before taking a seat nearby.

Two instinctively reached for her comm. “Did everyone get that?” Her top priority being the safety of the crew.

Five didn’t wait for an all clear before getting back on a console, shoulders tense from the extended silence from the remaining crewmembers. She could tell something was wrong.

“Four, Six? Come in.” Five heard Two’s voice rise. “Nyx, are you reading me?” Lack of communication meant increased danger for the crew. 

Working through the sense of foreboding was no small feat. Focusing on the task at hand Five tried to backtrack through the information from the beacon, but there was just too much. 

“Oh,” Android said, back ramrod straight. Five already had a hunch about what she was going to say. 

“What?” Two asked, frowning. 

“All the communication systems are down, aren’t they?” Five’s stomach was in knots. She had to be able to fix this, she couldn't let her _family_ get hurt over some _technical difficulties._

The hesitation in Android's stare confirmed Five’s suspicions, “Yes, along with any system unrelated to minimal life support.” 

Five’s shoulders dropped. A code that couldn’t be cracked was a frequent nightmare that plagued her, but she refused to give up. She might not be able to conquer the code but there had to be _something_ , the word _useless_ banged around her subconscious fueling her search. 

“Well that explains the mood lighting.” Three gestured to the emergency lights, his gun blending into the darkness.

Leaning against a console, Two clenched her hands as her frown deepened “Run a systems check to see if there’s a way to get anything up and running.” She wanted to exhaust all her options, even if she knew it was fruitless. 

“Of course.” Android nodded, her eyes unfocusing as her connection to the ship took over. 

“There’s gotta be a way to get through all this information,” Five said, unwilling to look away from the screen. 

A sense of responsibility fell over her, skin chilled at the thought of all the code uploaded from the encrypted message. _It would take Andriod forever to sort through it._

“I know,” Two sighed, “But we should try and get in contact with the rest of the crew in the meantime.” She checked her side for her weapon before nodding to the door. 

Three cocked one of his handguns,“I’ll get started.” 

“Wait, it might not be such a lost cause,” Five said, voice rising with anticipation. Her eyes flashed excitedly with knowledge, she was onto something. “I have an idea.”

“Hold on,” Two stopped Three with a single wave. “What do you mean?”

“Let me go with Three,” Five suggested. Since the information was too vast she had a plan that might aid in the search for their crewmates. They wouldn't have comms but that never stopped her before. “I might be able to rig the ship’s systems for some kind of reboot.” 

“And you think that’ll work?” 

“It probably won’t restore everything, but lights would be nice,” Five said, turning on her jacket light.

“Actually, with this peculiar type of code embedded in the ship's processing, Five’s theory has a sixty percent probability rate of succeeding,” Android explained.

“That sounds more like forty percent chance of failure,” Three scoffed. 

Before Five had a chance to convince Three otherwise Android stepped forward. 

“The ship is in lockdown due to a powerful command signal broadcasted from the beacon. The attack will cease when all information regarding the distress signal is removed. Our only other option would be to-”

“Manually reset,” Two said, finishing Android’s explanation. She knew enough about how systems worked to understand the risk factors involved. She could easily go alone, since her own nanite integrity made her stronger than anyone on the ship. 

“I can do this. I know what I’m doing,” Five said, standing as straight as possible. Her height always made it difficult to reassure others that she was entirely _capable_. She knew Two had faith in her abilities, but she also knew her age was always cause for concern. 

“Alright, but since the comms are down stay together until you locate the others,” Two said, crossing her arms. Five would be the last person on the ship to question her authority. 

“Then start the reboot.” It shouldn't be difficult finding the crew, but knowing they were safe would be one less thing to worry about.

Five headed to the exit. “If I get into any trouble I’ll just ask Three to help me,” she teased.

“With our luck, that might be the higher percentage to bet on,” Three said, before the doors closed.


	3. Third Times the Charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta'd
> 
> warning: this fic is gonna go unbeta'd from now on

The corridor was dim and cold, the fading emergency lights mixed red shadows with black making Five’s jacket light their main source of direction. It wasn’t the most ideal setting to be trapped in, especially in space, but the Raza’s been through worse. Five had other concerns tho, ever since the ship shut down all she could focus on was the endless code plaguing the ship's systems. Like a rubix cube with only one side completed. 

“Okay kid, stay close to me,” Three said cocking one of his pistols before aiming it into the empty corridor. 

“Are you and Lulu gonna keep me safe from the blinking lights?” Five scoffed as she strode past him.

“Hey.” Three said as he followed after her. He glanced to his pistol, his brows furrowing. “Is it really that weird?”

Five responded with a resounding “Yes” before taking a sharp turn from their course. She knew they were supposed to check on the rest of the crew but she had a pit stop to make. 

Stopping in front of the engine room Five didn’t wait for Three to catch up before she kneeled underneath the panel stationed outside. The door was still locked due to the system issues and it served as another reminder of their situation, another side of the puzzle undone. 

“Last I checked this mission didn't call for a pit stop.” Three’s voice was rough and overconfident.

“It'll only take a second,” Five said as she kneeled down to the panel before popping the underside off. There was a rainbow of wires that Five could easily reconfigure, if she had her tools. Which she left on the bridge. _Damnit._ In her haste to initiate the manual restart she must have forgotten them. 

“Look I don't care what you do but the boss lady is gonna be upset that we didn't head straight for the crew’s quarters.” Three shifted on his feet, attempting to play his nerves off by checking his pistols, _again_. 

“When did you start following orders?” Five asked as she searched her jacket hoping to find at least a pair of wire cutters. Instead she was left with a pocket knife. 

“You're right,” Three said momentarily taken aback, he prided himself on being the unconcerned type. 

“When did you stop following orders?” He asked as if Five had gypped him of the only opportunity to show his true rebellious nature.

Five waved his question aside, she had bigger things to focus on. Like trying to cut through wires with a pocket knife without getting electro shocked. 

“I just need a few minutes.” Her words were clipped as her fingers sped through the connections. Hoping for the right one.

Five glanced to the door, her blood rushing. There was a loud churn and a humph before… _nothing_. She bit back a groan going back to work on the wires.

“Hey, what's wrong?” Three asked as he gave Five’s shoulder a squeeze, she was bound to burn herself if she didn’t slow down. 

Five’s shoulders dropped, her hands stalling, “I didn't break the encryption.”

“That doesn't sound like a big deal-”

“Meaning,” Five said cutting him off, “the beacon was automatically set to upload the information whether we unlocked it or not.” She hesitated before meeting his gaze, terrified of seeing her own disappointment reflected back at her. 

“Okay,” Three said slowly, “that sounds like it could be cause for concern.”

Five rolled her eyes, Three’s light attitude about the situation made things feel _different_. On top of not following orders, and withholding information, Five was grateful for Three’s carefree behavior. 

“So what are you planning on doing then, that whole restart the ship thing?” 

“If I can get the ship fully up and running I might be able to figure out who set us up.” Five responded, her attention rampant as she could feel herself closing in on a solution. 

“Generally I'm all on board with revenge plans that mean I don't have to do anything but Two would kill me if I let you go through with this.” 

_Click_

The heavy engine room doors broke their attention, shifting before they opened with a _whoosh_.

Five pushed herself to her feet before punching Three in the arm in celebration, her plan worked. 

“I hate to say I told you so.” Five said.

“No you don’t. Hey!” Three said as he rubbed his arm, watching Five head into the engine room.

It looked surprisingly _different_ , but that could be the overhead lights flickering, or the dull hum of the obviously subdued engine. Either way Five could hear Three’s gulp from inside the darkened room. 

“You know, I pretty much know the engine room like the back of my hand. If you’d like to stay out there…” 

With a low groan from Three, Five knew she had gotten her way and proceeded towards the control panel.

“5 minutes. Otherwise I’m dumping you back at the bridge for Two to look after.” 

Five got to work, thankfully everything was already exposed due to her tampering from earlier. Plus most of her tools were there making it much better than a pocket knife. Although she had to admit with her jacket light creating more shadows around her, the place gave her a sense of foreboding. 

“I don’t need a babysitter, I know what I’m doing.” Fives fingers flew over the circuit board, she just had to reattach what she took apart from earlier before working on the restart. 

“Bodyguard, babysitter. Tomato, Tomahto.” 

Finally Five finished up restoring the control panel before she could head to the main engine cores. It should be the equivalent of unplugging the ship and plugging her back in.

“Bodyguard sounds better, at least that way I get to be the boss,” Five said before kneeling to the base of the middle core unit. It was particularly dark without the dull loom of the engine so Five was left to feel her way around. 

“Hey, are you almost done in there? Your height makes it impossible to track you.” 

“Almost…” Five knew she was getting close, the steel metal of the engine was warm against her fingers, and getting warmer as she moved lower. She could feel the curve of the engine’s processing unit at it’s base, the outline of what she had to “unplug” to restart everything. _Finally_. 

With tight fingers closed around the edges, Five gave a shout to Three, “Got it! You better be ready!” Before pulling on the unit. 

But it didn’t move. In fact when she gave another yank she it remained unchanged. 

“Five?” Three’s concerned voice filled the empty space around her. 

“I got it!” Five said trying to maneuver herself into the tight corner for a better grip. “Third time’s the charm,” she said as she bit her lip bracing herself and giving it all she had. 

Suddenly the ship shifted again and Five fell back before she could catch herself. The darkness had increased and Five had trouble pushing the processing core back into the engine but she refused to give up. Especially since Three's fear of the dark seem to be rubbing off on her. Luckily pushing the core back in went a lot smoother then taking it out. With a loud _click!_ Five sighed with relief, the hum of the engine was as comforting as a completed mainframe.

A loud groan could be heard from outside, Three’s clothes shuffled as he pushed himself to his feet, “Good job, now hurry up so we can turn on some goddamn lights. I’m sick of this darkness.”

Dusting herself off Five headed for the control panel, everything else _should_ be a cakewalk.

“It’s going to be a minute before the ship’s systems are all up and running.” 

Five worked through some configurations but everything was going too slow for her liking but at least it was _going._

“Shit.” Three’s hand was at his ear, his lips tightly pressed. 

“Yeah, I hear ya.” With a shake of his head Three looked to Five. 

“Comms are back online and Two’s already giving us shit. We gotta go.”

But when Five looked more closely at the configurations left behind from the download she couldn’t help but have her suspicions grow. It looked like it was going through all of their files, their personal information. She’d have to delete everything to stop whatever was happening.

**Author's Note:**

> send prompts to: cardservices.tumblr


End file.
